John Feehery: Speaking Engagements

BTW, BHO Could Still Win

Posted on October 14, 2011

I usually get in trouble when I make assumptions and then challenge them.

I have been assuming for some time that the Republicans will easily beat Barack Hussein Obama.

I have been assuming that for some very good reasons.

For example, Obama is just not a very good President. He doesn’t have a clue how the private market place works. He is not much of a leader. His neo-Marxist philosophy is all out of step with our free-market system.

Even if you do like the President personally, it is still hard to make the case that he deserves to be re-hired. The economy is in terrible shape. Our country is "this close" to going completely broke. He has failed to take on entitlements in any serious way.

He has had some successes in the war on terror, but unfortunately for him, this election won’t hinge on Mr. Obama’s ability to give the order to kill terrorists.

That is what we all know, and that is why he is cracking 50% in his disapproval ratings.

But the Republicans can still screw this up. Here are a few ways BHO could still win:

• Republicans can nominate Hermann Cain: He’s a nice guy, but he is not ready to become President. Obama will tear him apart in the debates. His 9-9-9 plan will be torn apart by both right and the left. He doesn’t have any clue about foreign policy. And independents will go with the devil they know rather than the angel they don’t.

• Republicans can piss off Hispanic voters: Immigration is an important issue, but the GOP better learn to handle it better than they have in the past. Rick Perry stepped in it when he said that Republicans who didn’t support his views on immigration didn’t “have a heart,” but his sentiment is right on this front: He knows how to get Hispanic votes.

• The Tea Party can run its own candidate: Ross Perot helped elect Bill Clinton twice. The Tea Party could re-elect Barack Obama. Matt Kibbe, the man behind Freedom Works, so dislikes Mitt Romney he has threatened to run a third party candidate. If he does, he deserves an appointment to the Obama cabinet in 2013.

• Money: Obama has a huge money edge on whoever the Republican candidate is. It is nice that the Republicans have all kinds of Super Pacs doing this thing and that thing. But Super Pacs, by law, can’t coordinate with other campaigns, and nothing is more frustrating than a bunch of conflicting messages coming out of a variety of different campaigns. Obama has already raised a shit-load of money and pretty soon, he is going to start using it.

• The economy: The economy can turn around, and if it turns around quick enough, it might save BHO. The irony, of course, is that the President is doing his level-best to keep that from happening. From Dodd-Frank regulations to Obamacare, from the minimum wage increases to the extension of unemployment insurance, the President and his team are doing all they can to keep the economic growth to a minimum. Despite that fact, the American economy still might roar back.

• The Republican base goes to war against swing voters: The GOP still hasn’t successfully litigated many of its internal disagreements. Should we be libertarian? Neo-cons? Paleo? Should we push to get out of Afghanistan? Should we legalize pot? Should cut the hell out of defense spending? Should we end the Fed or simply audit it? So many questions. So little time.

This election is in no way over, and to all of my Republican friends (and this is a memo to myself too), let’s not assume that this race is over. It ain’t over. It is really just beginning.